Regenerate Me
by The Fourth Bride
Summary: AU. Donna is the only witness to the Doctor's 'death' at Lake Silencio. The Doctor gives everyone a second chance. It's time he had one of his own.
1. Chapter 1

**Regenerate Me**

As she begins to fall, he reaches out to catch her. They scream in unison as golden light surrounds them.

When the light clears, they are left huddled on the sand, somehow, impossibly, unchanged. It is Donna who stands first, initially a little shaky, but gaining steadiness as she stretches and blinks dazedly. Frowning a little, she turns back to face the Doctor, extending a hand to help him up.

He doesn't take it.

Shaking her head to clear the last of the fuzziness, Donna realizes that he hasn't moved, is still curled in on himself, trembling faintly. Moving to kneel beside him, she wets her lips and begins to speak, placing one hand gently on his shoulder.

"Doctor. Doctor, it's alright. Look, I didn't burn up. See?"

Still, he doesn't move.

Worried now, she continues:

"Doctor are you alright? C'mon now, talk to me sweetheart."

Unable to stop himself, he lets out a ragged, broken sob, clutching desperately at her hands.

Realization dawning, she pulls him quickly into an awkward sort of hug, both of the half sitting, half kneeling in the sand.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm alright. Let it out, Timeboy, that's the way. Everything's gonna be fine."

When his sobs have quieted, he looks up at her, disbelieving.

"You're alive."

"Yep."

"You didn't burn."

"Nope."

"How?"

"You regenerated. Or rather, we regenerated. Together. Since I only had the remnants of the metacrisis, there wasn't enough energy to completely change either one of us- just enough to heal you and to give me this."

She takes his hand and holds it to a spot just above her right breast, where, against all logic, he can feel a second heart beating, strong and steady.

He shakes his head rapidly in denial.

"But that's not possible. It's literally not. Possible! You should have died!"

Donna looks affronted. "Aren't you glad to see me then?"

"No. Donna, that not what I..."

He trails off when he sees she is smiling widely.

"You tricked me. Again."

"S'not my fault you're easy, spaceman."

He chuckles ruefully.

"S'pose I am."

Without warning, she slaps clean him across the face. He doesn't even flinch.

"I deserved that."

"Yes you did you numpty! You wiped my mind!"

"I'm sorry." he says miserably. "It was the only way to-"

She cuts him off "Obviously not. If you had taken the time to listen to me instead of just assuming you knew best, as usual, I would have told you there was another way."

She pauses for a second before resuming her speech, now sounding a little uncertain.

"You gave up a life to save Rose, and I know- I know I'm not that important to you, but I just thought- you wouldn't have even had to change your face- you haven't now. You could have tried."


	2. Chapter 2

Regenerate Me ch2

The Doctor's hearts twist sickeningly at her words.

"You... You really believe that, don't you? You honestly believe that I... That you... Oh Donna. I thought you must have known, must have seen it after the metacrisis. You had to have. "If it's in your head-""

"It's in mine." she finishes for him. "I remember that bit, but what do you mean Doctor? What must I have known?"

He swallows harshly before speaking. "You must have... must have known that I... That I... Donna, you had to have known what you meant to me!"

Her voice takes on a slightly dangerous tone. "What are you talking about, Spaceman? Come on, out with it!"

Gripping her firmly by her shoulders and shaking her slightly, he shouts in frustration. "YOU HAD TO HAVE KNOWN THAT I LOVE YOU!"

There is silence. Then- CRACK.

She slaps him soundly across the face once more.

Clasping a hand to his rapidly bruising cheek, he looks up to see that she is crying. "No, no Donna, please don't... This doesn't have to change anything, I mean obviously you don't feel the same way... We can go back to being just mates, best mates, like before! You and me, off to see the universe, just like old times! Doesn't that sou-"

"Doctor" She cuts him off "Shut up."

He shuts up.

She takes a shaky breath before speaking. "Now, obviously you've convinced yourself that that's true-"

"Donna, it IS true-"

She holds up a hand, halting his speech.

"It CAN'T be. You're right, I would have seen it. I didn't, so it. Can't. Be. True."

He huffs out a breath in frustration. "I don't know why you couldn't see it, Donna, but I swear to you it's true. I love you, Donna Noble, and it is my greatest regret that I didn't tell you sooner."

"But then why..." she says in a small voice "why did you send me away? If you loved me, why didn't you find another way? Why didn't you find THIS way?" She gestures vaguely, indicating the lingering traces of regeneration energy around them.

His breath catches slightly in his throat. "I was certain, absolutely certain, that this would be the last thing you'd want. To be stuck with me forever. I'm just a 'long streak of alien nothing', remember?"

"You idiot."

"W- what?"

"You heard me. You're an idiot, oh high-and-mighty Time Lord. Did it occur to you, when you were deciding my fate, to ask me what I wanted?"

He look at her wonderingly, hardly daring to hope that she means what he thinks she means.

Taking pity on him, she says "I love you too, you dunce."

In an instant, the disbelief in his eyes turns to unrestrained joy. "Really?"

She smiles softly and reaches out a hand to cup his bruised cheek. "Come here, you moron."

The gentle press of her lips fells like rain after a drought and he revels in it. Drinking deeply of each other, they cling and gasp until the heat becomes too much to bear and they break apart, panting.

When she's caught her breath, she speaks again.

"And as for being a 'long streak of alien nothing'. She smiles a little in remembrance. "Not anymore you're not. Not that I minded, not really. Although I'm not sure this is an improvement- I look old enough to be your mother. And a bow-tie? Really?"

"Oi!" He retorts. "Bow-ties are cool."

She laughs. "Whatever you say, Martian. Whatever you say."


End file.
